A Spy Named Orphan

Donald Maclean was arguably the most valuable, and certainly the most troubled, of the Cambridge spies. Roland Philipps knows the world that formed him and has given us the fullest account we've yet had not only of his treason but of the conflicted man who committed it.

Joseph Kanon, author of DEFECTORS

Gripping from start to finish

Sara Wheeler, author of O MY AMERICA!

Fascinating and page-turning. An exceptional story of espionage and betrayal, thrillingly told. I devoured it.

Philippe Sands, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for EAST WEST STREET

A masterpiece. The rich renderings of secret assignations, smuggled documents, damning intelligence and brilliant code-breaking will delight lovers of fiction and non-fiction alike. Picture Erik Larson meets John le Carré and you have only begun to scratch the surface of this absolutely gripping book.

Brad Thor, author of international bestseller SPYMASTER

Hugely impressive – by an historian who is a master of storytelling and empathy. A rare combination.

Dame Carmen Callil

What great storytelling. Maclean may have been a traitor but his slow slide to self-destruction has all the elements of tragedy. I couldn’t put it down.

Peter Snow

Magisterial. The biography of Maclean we have all been waiting for

Charles Cumming, author of the Thomas Kell series

With A Spy Named Orphan, the last piece of this bizarre jigsaw falls into place. The outline story is familiar, but the amount of new detail here — on Maclean's personal, professional, and secret lives – exceeds all expectations. Roland Philipps has managed to make the new material come alive by relating it intimately to its historical context, of which he has a deep and sympathetic understanding.

Sebastian Faulks, author of BIRDSONG

Brilliantly fluent...fascinating...[Philipps] writes so cleanly, and at such a clip, handling the big scenes with aplomb...This biography first grips and then lingers long in the mind. It is a page-turner of the most empathetic kind.

Rachel Cooke, Guardian

The definitive account of the life of a "gifted" traitor… Impressive… By drawing on a wealth of previously classified material, Philipps weaves a gripping tale of misplaced loyalty, intrigue and betrayal that is unlikely to be bettered

Dominic Midgley, Daily Express

Superb…full of contemporary relevance… Philipps relates the complex narrative of Maclean’s treason…with tremendous aplomb, limpidity and acuity

WILLIAM BOYD, New Statesman

Philipps… is punchy and hard-nosed in his handling of facts, but pliant, imaginative and humane in his understanding of motives and emotions

Richard Davenport-Hines, Guardian

Fresh and thought-provoking throughout... rich in archive material

Giles Udy, The Times

Admirable… [a] compassionate, absorbing book

Miranda Carter, The Oldie

A cracking story... An impressively researched and smoothly polished debut... persuasive.. [an] excellent book

Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

An adroit, deeply researched and richly embroidered portrait of Maclean

Ferdinand Mount, Prospect

[A] persuasive and polished biography

Sunday Times

Roland Philipps illuminates, in both broad and subtle strokes

John Lloyd, Financial Times

Philipps does an admirable job of piecing together the spy’s tale

Mary Jo Murphy, Washington Post Sunday

Philipps’s telling of the tale is masterly. He weaves a complex web of professional, psychological and marital themes into a wonderful fluent, coherent and compelling narrative

Xan Smiley, Standpoint

Elegant, thorough and surprisingly exciting

Marcus Berkman, Daily Mail

[A] superbly told tale

Daily Mail, Daily Mail, **Books of the Year**

In A Spy Named Orphan Roland Philipps’s description of Donald Maclean’s psychological make-up chimes with what I have always felt about the Cambridge spies (Philby excepted) – namely, that their romance with the Soviet Union partook of patriotism as much as it did of espionage… Philipps makes the story and the slow uncovering of his treachery a gripping narrative and an overwhelmingly sad one

Alan Bennett, London Review of Books

A lively and beautifully engineered biography

John Banville